Troon site visit

      One of our bi-annual site visits from Troon's senior agronomist was held last week. He toured all four courses and offered recommendations for improvements plantation wide. One of the areas of concern to many are the Mini Verde greens at the Players Club. He assessed our unique circumstances and offered the following as a plan of action.
       Our first and most immediate change will be to raise our mowing heights. We will be raising our height of cut by one hundredth of an inch. This will reduce stress to the plant, ultimately aiding in the recovery phase. We will also be reducing our rolling frequency. This will lessen the burden to the plant and allow it to recuperate faster. These factors will affect the golfer the most. Our green speeds will be moderate for the time being until we show improvement.
        Another area of concern was our nematode counts. We sent samples to the NCDA and our results indicated that our hazard indexes are high. We have since secured a contractor to apply nematicide to our greens. The product is applied directly into the soil and requires 24 hours before re-entry. This will force us to close for an additional day in May. We have scheduled this application for May 13th and will require the course to be closed on May 14th. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
      Our long term plans on managing the greens will have more of an indirect impact on current conditions. We will continue to assess our managements methods in regards to preparations for winter. We plan to adjust our practices to enter winter healthier than last season. We will also anticipate a long and cold winter versus the traditional mild, temperate season. The core areas of focus will be fertilization, site conditions, irrigation and pesticide use. Again, we appreciate your patience and encourage you to keep following the blog for updates from the agronomy team at St. James.